NCAA president Mark Emmert’s leadership has been heavily scrutinized over the past year, and the criticism heightened in the wake of the NCAA’s mishandling of the investigation into Miami.

But while many have suggested Emmert step down or be removed, the NCAA executive committee on Saturday released a statement unanimously supporting Emmert. The committee is headed by Lou Anna K. Simon, executive committee chair and president of Michigan State.

Mark Emmert was hired to lead a major transformation of the NCAA. Much has been accomplished without fanfare, such as academic reforms, enhanced fiscal accountability and organizational transparency. The Executive Committee and President Emmert recognize there is much yet to do and that the road to transformational change is often bumpy and occasionally controversial.

Therefore, on Friday the Executive Committee unanimously affirmed its confidence in Mark’s leadership as president and its support for his ongoing efforts to implement these essential and historic reforms.”

In short, Emmert isn’t going anywhere anytime soon.

The statement goes on to acknowledge that a close examination of current “processes, policies, procedures and investigative tools is necessary.”

The organization came under fire when Emmert revealed NCAA investigators paid the attorney of former Miami booster and now convicted felon Nevin Shapiro for deposition information obtained in a federal bankruptcy case. The NCAA, which gave attorney Maria Elena Perez nearly $20,000, does not have subpoena power.

Emmert said he was never made aware of the arrangement and Julie Roe Lach, the NCAA’s vie president of enforcement, was fired.

The NCAA launched an external review of the investigation and as a result, said it removed about 20 percent of the evidence collected in the Miami investigation. This week, Miami was delivered its Notice of Allegations.

University president Donna Shalala lashed out at the NCAA and said she believes the university’s football program has suffered enough with two postseason bans and scholarship sanctions. Miami has 90 days to respond to the allegations before the NCAA makes it final ruling. If it goes beyond the self-induced sanctions, Shalala suggested Miami might fight back.

“We believe strongly in the principles and values of fairness and due process,” she said in a statement earlier this week. “However, we have been wronged in this investigation, and we believe this process must come to a swift resolution, which includes no additional punitive measures beyond those already self-imposed.”

The Miami case is just the latest for which Emmert and the NCAA that he leads has been railed. Penn State was levied unprecedented sanctions for the missteps the NCAA said athletic department leaders, including the late coach Joe Paterno, took in handling the allegations against convicted serial child molester, Jerry Sandusky.

The state of Pennsylvania is currently suing the NCAA, and the NCAA is suing the state for attempting to funnel the fines the university must pay into the state.